motive. participantses in fairfax county are on alert after a man followed as high school student home from school. according to the "washington post," it happened monday night around 8:00. police say the teenaged girl left west springfield high by car. she noticed she was being followed by a man she did not know. police say he tried to approach her when she got to her house. she was able to get inside before he reached her. police are now searching for that man. you may want to give yourself extra time to get to work this morning. a blanket of dense fog settled on the area this morning and it's just now starting to lift. there's a live picture of the capitol. you can barely see it. in some areas visibility is near zero. so likely have to take your time on the roads. and the fog made for a long trip home for vice president joe biden. his plane had to be diverted to dulles because of low visibility. it was the second time weather impacted his travel yesterday. the plane also had to abort it

first attempt at a landing in charlotte because of a thunderstorm. that caused the vice president to be about an hour late to a campaign rally. >> one of our producers drove in around midnight and there was fog. i had a lot of it this morning. how long will it be around? >> actually it's lifted in some area, some areas are still dense. so it's patchy. and as we look at the current visibilities now, reagan national is down to about half a mile which isn't too bad and prince georges county, three miles. but farther to the west and north, parts of west virginia, the shenandoah valley, advi visibility down under a third of a mile. so allow yourself extra time as you're heading out this morning. certainly use the low beam headlights. that will help your visibility. right now it's fairly mild and the air is thick with humidity,

of course. it's in the low to mid-60s montgomery, prince georges, arlington, fairfax county, much of southern maryland low to mid-70s. farther west, shenandoah valleys into the mountains, in the low 60 there. hour by ho hour by hour throughout the day today, we'll still be dealing with patchy fog. maybe a little bit of drizzle. and then by noontime, a little sun breaking out into the upper 70s. it will feel like summer in october. we'll call it augtober. afternoon highs reaching the mid-80s. so summer like afternoon, partly sunny, a look at this evening and hometown forecast in ten minutes. now a look at your traffic. and thanks, tom. traveling our roadways as tom mentioned, you'll face patchy fog, wet roadways, as well as some construction. so here's what's happening. beltway at 236 on the ramps there, construction was taking place and blocking the ramps to

and from 236. over to 66 as you make your way eastbound heading from nuttily to the beltway, still have cones up. 66 some fog, so please give yourself some extra time. yes, we have live breaking news coming out of syria's biggest city. three big explosions rocked the city. the blasts happened in the main square in allepo. state tv reported many people were killed and a major material damage was dwun one to many buildings. people on the ground report that they were car bombs that went off within minutes much each other. this morning president obama and mitt romney are getting their final preparations in before tonight's first presidential debate. the candidates will square off

at the university of denver. take a look at the hockey arena there. it will host the debate tonight. romney has spent the past few days in the mile high city preparing for tonight. he took a break yesterday for lunch at chipotle. both campaigns know how crucial tonight's debate is especially in virginia. >> i think it's an opportunity for governor romney to flush out these issues face to face with president obama. there's no opportunity for the obama campaign to twist his message or his words. >> he's very good at explaining what's going on, what he's proposing, what he has done. and i don't think there's anything to worry about. >> president obama and mitt romney will face off in two more debates. the next one is a week from tomorrow in danville, kentucky. president obama now leading mitt romney by three percentage

points among all likely voters in the latest nbc news/"wall street journal" poll. the margin of error is 3.1%, so that puts the race in a virtual tie. the president led his republican rival by five percent two weeks ago. he has a much wider lead if you consider registered voters. you can watch tonight's debate right here on nbc 4. nbc news has live team coverage beginning at 9:00 and that brings us to our poll question today. will you watch tonight's debate? let us know by taking the poll on our facebook page. intelligence centers are being blasted for what a senate panel calls shoddy reporting and potential privacy violations. the so-called fusion centers were meant to help local, state and federal officials fight terrorism, but the report says the 77 centers have become pools of wasteful spending.

it also cites potential spying on american musliming that may have broken privacy laws. it has been ten years since the men known as the beltway snipers terrorized our region. the first victim was in wheaton. a total of ten people died. one victim's sister has raised more than $100,000 towards scholarships to help students go to college. >> we have to hope for change. and sometimes it's all in our attitude. >> mohammed was executed in 2009. malvo is 27 years old and serving multiple life sentenceses without the possibility of parole. d.c. council members will discuss lowering fines for people caught speeding. for most first time offenders,

you'll see a fine of $150. traffic camera ticket charges have gone up by as much as 500% in the past four years and that has a lot of drivers complaining that the program is severally there to raise money, not to encourage saver driving. jack evans is proposing something that would let the car service uber operate in the district without having fairs regulated by the taxi commission. the service features an app on your smart phone for ordering a car to pick you up. taxi drivers complain that uber is taking business away from help. uber's owner complains some d.c. council members want too much regulation which could shut the service down. they're reviewing uber's operation, but it could be months before any changes. national al might have already worn their division, but they still have something to play for on this final day of the regular season. they can clinch the top seed in home field advantage throughout the playoffs by beating the philadelphia phillies.

>> and a bouncer to short. the nats win their 97th game of the year. >> looking really good. the nl east champion nats won last night. let's go back to the live desk with breaking news. >> we have breaking news out of vatican city. straight to the video. police on the scene at the vatican where a man climbed the dome, this is after he jumped over this railing, and then he was able to climb the dome which we're talking about 450 feet, once he got on top, he put out a banner and said he did this in protest of prime minister mario monti and the european union. at this time, he is still up there on top of that dome and police are still trying to figure out how to get him down. reporting from the news 4 live desk, angie goff, news 4.

ahead, getting to the bottom of a seat problem at american airlines as the airline deals with another incident in mid flight. plus this cute little dog is on on the mend after a vicious attack by her own owner. and a lot of people dealing with fog. a look at wha

time to dust off the skis and snowboards.

copper mountain in colorado already making snow. the machines switched on yesterday to help the mountain get ready for some ski race teams that want to start training there. the resort plans to open to the public in early november. still a little too soon for me. not ready to see that yet. >> and take a look at this picture, live video here in d.c., a lot of fog for folks to deal with right now. >> tom kierein has the forecast. >> visibility is right around the metro area about a half a mile. here are the area visibilities as recorded at the area airports. and gaithersburg 0.8. annapolis, down to a third of a mile. as well as central and southern send dou shenandoah valley. the visibility will be low for the next three or four hours.

heymarket, a little bit of drizzle around, but then by early afternoon, climbing in to the 80s. i'm back with a look at big changes for the weekend in ten minutes.changes for the weekend minutes. >> let's talk road work. university boulevard, you'll see cones set up just blocking the left side of the roadway, but it should be just about over. and tom mentioned low visibility in gaithersburg, but i want to give you a live look in german town, you can see quite foggy at father hurley boulevard, but you're clear to rockville as far as accidents or construction. it is now 4:43. still to come, how a disgraced former coach at penn state is fighting back against the school. plus

welcome back. officials where a ferry company says the vessel recently passed in-special. the general manager says he's still waiting to talk to the ferry captain who is in the hospital and unable to talk. monday the ferry collided with another boat with about 120 people on board headeded to see a fireworks show. 38 people died, more than 100 people were injured. seven crew members from both boats have also been arrested. 14 before 5:00. answers this morning about what caused seats to come loose on american airlines planes over the past week. entire rows came loose during three flights, twice on the same plane. that forced the carrier to ground 47 planes yesterday for inspections during which they found four more planes with the

same issue. american says the problem started after seats were moved around on on some planes and the clamp that attaches the seat to the floor was not properly installed afterwards. >> somehow it didn't get properly locked back down. mechanical failure, human error, we're still trying to figure out the problem and where was it introduced. >> sources tell nbc news that the seats were originally installeded by contractors, then rechecked by american maintenance workers. the man who says he saw jerry sandusky sexually abusing a boy is now filing a whistle blower lawsuit against the school. mook mcqueary was a key witness in the case. he is seeking millions of dollars in damages because he says he was defamed and misrepresented by the university. according it to the suit, mcyearly was the only coach not invited to interview under the new football coach bill o'brien and the only former penn state employee whose legal fees were not reimbursed by the

university. a big dig for jimmy hoffa remains turns out to be a big bust. the sample continue contain any human remains. a man dying of cancer recently told police he saw a man burying a body there the night hoffa disappeared. the former teamster's boss was last seen about 30 miles away from that area. this morning the washington humane society needs your donations to help a dog that was stabbed seven times. the 2-year-old shih tzu was stabbed by her owner during a g domestic dispute and will need a lot of rehab. cocoa's owner was arrested. his name has not been released. more charges could be filed. animal control removed 40 animals from a home in one of the most unique cases of animal hoards ever. last thursday officers seized a

pig, snakes, a skunk, even a gold fish. many animals did not have food or water. the owner 21-year-old shane taylor says news 4 he is not a hoarder and he denies the animals were neglected. >> this is the lowest i've ever been in my life. for the size of the property that maybe there were too many animals. were they neglected? absolutely not. >> animal control says charges are pending. officers are now looking for rescue groups and foster homeses to take care of those animals. a 22-year-old man is waiting to be sentenced after being found guilty of chasing down and beating a teen earlier this year. yesterday a jury found powell guilty of assault and robbery. prosecutors argue powell was in a group of men who chased down the teen back in april and brutally beat him. the officer ended up on facebook and became a key piece of evidence, but also a source of dispute. >> the video shows clearly that

this defendant, mr. powell, was the assailant, the main actor in this case. >> and i feel like it's racial profiling. i did not see him hit nobody. >> powell will be sentenced in december. he faces up to 25 years in prison. the prince georges county police department hopes this surveillance video will help solve a string of liquor store robberies. there were three holdups last month. each time the men came into the store early in the morning, tied up the employees and emptieded the register. there are new health concerns about a government contractor from montgomery county jailed in cuba. doctors feel alan gross may have cancer. an american radiologist looked at scans cuban doctor doctors performed on a mass. the radiologist is concerned it's more serious because gross

has lost a lot of weight. gross is serving a 15 year sentence for providing internet equipment to the jewish community. time for weather and traffic on the 1s. a lot of fog. >> we've had the dog days of summer and it will feel like dog day of summer here this afternoon. we have foggy dogs this morning when you walk your dog. and we do have the fog around. take a look at the capitol, this is a time lapse from last evening to just about an hour ago. you can see the fog swririrls around the capitol. thanks to scott, our content editor. and as we take a look at the view from our city camera, we do have the fog right in washington. at reagan national, it's at 70 degrees. and we've got the humidity, yes, very high of course. and visibility at reagan national about a half a mile. these are the area airport

visibilities. you see shenandoah valley, about a third a mile. closer to washington, generally the visibilities are above three quarters of a mile, so not too bad. right north part of the bay, visibilitys there down to about a third of a mile. temperatures generally in the 60s. shenandoah valley all the way to the bay. but right near the bay, waters in the mid-70s. visibilities not too bad there, about ten miles. so there may be a little bit of fog forming from time to time. over the last several hours, we've had a fews passing showers late last night, but as a result of the high humidity, it hasn't evaporated. so the roads are wet and temperatures this morning hold steady in the 60s through 6:00 a.m. with the patchy fog still with us. but by noon, a little sun breaking out for your lunch hour and climbing to the upper 70s to around 80. and then peaking in the mid-80s mid afternoon. it will feel more like an august

day than october. and then lower humidity moves in on thursday and into friday. beautiful weather both days with sunshine and highs near 80. and then on saturday, increasing clouds, could get some showers. looks like late saturday night, now the timing looks to be after midnight saturday night, perhaps through noon sunday. showers after that turning chilly and more autumnal monday and tuesday. taking another look at i-66 as you make your way east board at nutley, had construction there. those cones are gone. but also on 66, still seeing some fog, will is at fairfax county parkway. so if you're making the trip on i- i- i-66, you are reaching patchy fog.so if you're making the tri i-66, you are reaching patchy fog.county parkway. so if you're making the trip on i-66, you are reaching patchy fog. also local roads in maryland, along 29 at fairland road, foggy

in this area, too. so give yourself extra time and drive slowly, use caution. maryland governor martin o'malley will introduce a controversial plan that would allow utilities to charge customers in hopes of improving reliability. o'malley says the plan allows power companies like pepco to add a dollar or two to monthly electric bills to pay for maintenance upgrades. in exchange, utilities will have to meet stricter liability standards and have a harder time raising rates in the future. o'malley says the plan would accelerate much needed work that could keep the power on while opponents say it is rewarding utilities for not paying for the many nance themselves. a new casino getting support from an unlikely source. the washington redskins team ownership endorseded question 7 saying the project would mean new jobs and more money for schools. question 7 is one of the most hotly debated topics this election season. yesterday clergy and community activists rallied against

expanded gambling outside the prince georges county administration building. fighting back. how a news anchor is responding after a viewer tells her she's too fat for tv. but first a scary screen on the high seas. plus what arnold schwarzenegger is saying about the scandal that

dramatic video of a high seas rescue. they were fishing for shrimp when dr tropical storm norman sent the ship over. all of the men survived. arnold schwarzenegger is opening up about his life, his political career and the scandal that cost him his marriage. the actor and former california governor was here in washington last night promoting his new memoir total recall. he took part in a question and answer session and later autographed copies of the book. schwarzenegger took blame for having an extramarital affair with his house keeper. many fans at last night's event say don't think that the relationship -- they don't think the relationship should define who he is. >> because that's not all of who he is. as he said, he had 640 pages of his life and ten pages on that and that's what people are picking on. and i think he's done a lot of

valuable movies and politics and made a lot of contributions. >> overall it doesn't change my view of it him. i've always looked at him as an actor and i think his personal life is his personal life however screwed up or not it is. that's his life. >> last night's signing was sold out. it's not quite christmas, but it's time to select this year's white house christmas tree. last year's tree came from wisconsin and this year the tree will hail from north carolina. this morning officials will visit farms to pick just the right true, but it won't be harvested until late november. contest winners are provided the official white house christmas tree since 1966. how about pressure. the white house christmas tree, not any other xchristmas tree. >> make sure you get a good one. >> again, too early to talk about snow and christmas trees. >> yes. stay with us. news 4 today continu